Students introduce their favorite character to the AET.
It is a writing activity but you can also have students present to you for a speaking portion as well. My JTE was nice enough to let them take the worksheet home and draw their character for homework so they could present to me the next day.
The worksheet focuses on using New Horizon grammar points from Unit 1 and 2.
Students write 4 sentences choosing from the grammar points: [I am... / I am from... / I like.. / I can ... / I have ... for breakfast / Do you..? / Can you..?]
I made the question grammar point mandatory when I did the activity.
I found that students presenting their favorite characters were more inclined to use more vocabulary and had an easier time presenting. Lots of anime characters, disney characters and monsters from Monster Hunter. Speaking presentations were also done 1 on 1 and I would ask an additional question if time permit.
This theme worked really well I a few years ago for presentations for some of my classes. The students were told they could pick characters, friends, family members, teachers or celebrities. With that much freedom the students really got into presenting about things they were comfortable and happy to share.